TuesdaySeptember 26,2017

Repaired fishing vessels donated to areas stricken by the Great East Japan Earthquake

Workers engaged in repair work of fishing vessels at Heshikiya Fishing Port in Katsuren, Uruma City on July 30.

August 16, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

Miyako City of Iwate Prefecture suffered extensive damage in the Great East Japan Earthquake. Many fishing vessels were swept away or hurled up onto land by the tsunami.
Fishermen of the Katsuren Fishermen’s Cooperative who harvest mozuku, a type of edible seaweed found around Okinawa (biological name: Cladosiphon okamuranus), decided to collect eight small fishing vessels of about 10 meters in length that have not been used for several years, and repair them. One of the fishermen said, “The fishermen up there can make their living only by fishing. As people who are also engaged in fishing, we would like to do our best to help those in the tsunami stricken areas.”

The Fishermen’s Cooperative contacted the Marine Products Division of the Industrial Promotion Department of Miyako City and established that they need small fishing vessels to catch sea urchins and abalones. The Fishermen’s Cooperative will repair the damaged vessels and paint them as needed.

They are scheduled to hold a sending-off ceremony on August 22 and ferry the repaired vessels to Tokyo, before trucking them on to Miyako City.
Masaru Uehara, executive managing director of the Umiya Marine Products Company, said, “In cooperation with many people, we have been engaged in this project from the stage of repair work through to transportation. I hope that we can continue our support for the people in the tsunami stricken areas.”

The company is calling for donations of used fishing vessels and used fishing equipment.
For further details, call Umiya Marine Products Co. at 098 (878) 0503.